mirror of
https://expo.survex.com/repositories/expoweb/.git/
synced 2024-11-26 17:21:55 +00:00
121 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
121 lines
6.4 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN">
|
|
<html lang=en>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>1983: Cambridge Underground report</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<center><font size=-1>Cambridge Underground 1984 pp 5-6</font>
|
|
|
|
<h2>Wolfehöhle - Act I</h2></center>
|
|
|
|
<p>With the bottoming of Stellerweghöhle, some of the older members felt
|
|
it was safe to return to Austria and the attractions of lemon ice creams,
|
|
gooey cakes and a little idle prospecting in the sunshine soon had the might
|
|
of EXCS racing in their bath chairs along the autobahns to Altaussee.
|
|
|
|
<p>The advantage of age is that it provides the experience so valuable in the
|
|
act of prospecting. Don't bother with the big open shafts, they always choke
|
|
in snow or boulders - look for a horizontal draughting entrance not too far
|
|
from the road. So the first find, 140, was a loose, open rift, just below the
|
|
summit of Schwarzmoos Kogel, and miles from anywhere. Bunde lashed arms and
|
|
legs were endemic, and no-one felt too sorry when it inevitably choked at
|
|
-100m, and even Julian couldn't be forced through the final boulders.
|
|
|
|
<p>Ambling down from 140 after a surveying trip, John and Julian deviated
|
|
from the normal route and happened across Wolfehöhle. Its main entrance
|
|
lies 18m above 82, and is a 2m high, 1m wide walk-in passage complete with an
|
|
icy outward draught. From the start, Wolfehöhle had all the symptoms of
|
|
going horribly deep - see next years journal to see if it lives up to its
|
|
promise. The two explorers, minus lights, felt their way along the passage,
|
|
throwing stones ahead to test for a drop, but it was soon obvious that shorts
|
|
and T-shirts alone wouldn't be adequate to push the pot to its end.
|
|
|
|
<p>The next day Ben, Naomi, Julian and John finished derigging 140 and with
|
|
armfuls of rope romped off down Wolfhöhle. A rapid bolt and the team
|
|
surged on down the 19m pitch into a chamber complete with the skeleton of a
|
|
wolf who had fallen in via another entrance. The drop continued down; this
|
|
was dismissed as an irrelevance but could be worth looking at, and the way on
|
|
was a loose 3m climb up into a draughting tube. It then decided to go down an
|
|
awkward climb, later laddered, and after a short grovel it opened up and
|
|
popped over the edge of a great black hole. With whoops of ecstacy the
|
|
explorers lobbed boulders over the edge and grinning listened to the
|
|
tantalising booms as they bounded into the depths. And then Ben realised he'd
|
|
have to go down and suddenly he didn't feel very well.
|
|
|
|
<p>A retreat was made for some more tackle, and the next day saw frightening
|
|
quantities of rope ferried to the edge of the pitch. Off to the left, an
|
|
interesting crawl tempted Julian and Naomi, and they disappeared down this to
|
|
intersect a large passage leading to another set of smaller shafts partially
|
|
descended before it was decided to concentrate efforts on the big pitch. One
|
|
of the attractions of this alternative route is that the large passage comes
|
|
back to the head of the big pitch, so the crawl could be avoided by a
|
|
spectacular Tyrolean traverse rigged across the 80m drop. Meanwhile Ben and
|
|
John were bolting down the big pitch with a series of glorious French style
|
|
freehanging rebelays. The shaft opened into a large rift, with some black
|
|
peaty mud on the walls in the upper section - no explanation for this mud was
|
|
ever found. The rift bottomed out at a small streamway which continued with a
|
|
bit of a traverse and a short drop. There had been enough excitement for the
|
|
day and so it was time to exit for an early evening beer in the sun.
|
|
|
|
<p>The weather turned nasty, but after a couple of days the party returned.
|
|
The gear had been scattered sround the entrance to dry in the sun, and
|
|
longjohns now had to be dug out of te snow, resulting in much whimpering. But
|
|
two slightly damp cavers were soon back on the big pitch, wondering what it
|
|
would be like with the water flowing. Fortunately, the rope gave a fairly dry
|
|
hang, and the descent was continued down the rift, avoiding most of the
|
|
stream with a series of short traverses and pitches before meeting a second
|
|
shaft. Here it was impossible to escape the water, and the icy wind and spray
|
|
soon penetrated the thickest longjohns. While it may be great for the bolter
|
|
at the sharp end of the rope, with much to keep him occupied and enough
|
|
exercise to stay warm, his partner squatting on a ledge above has nothing to
|
|
do but shiver and ask himself why he's there. There was no obvious answer,
|
|
and the team retreated.
|
|
|
|
<p>Ben and John now had to go home, despite wanting to stay and help derig,
|
|
so Wiggy joined Julian in a final pushing trip. The final section of the
|
|
second shaft was descended and a few shorter pitches followed, before a truly
|
|
tremendous shaft was reached. The last decent length of rope (40m) was fed
|
|
down and Julian descended. The rope hangs free after the first metre, and for
|
|
most of its length hangs in the middle of a circular shaft approximately 6m
|
|
in diameter. The rope ended 3m off the floor, so Wiggy sent down a short
|
|
length of rope so the descent could be completed. Beyond, another pitch
|
|
estimated at 15m continued, but lack of rope precluded a descent. Time had
|
|
run out, so the cave was surveyed and detackled.
|
|
|
|
<p>Wolfehöhle still has much to offer; there is no reason why it
|
|
shouldn't reach -800m. Many leads have not been explored and the poit should
|
|
provide the younger generation with fun for the next couple of years while
|
|
EXCS return to their retirement.
|
|
|
|
<p align=right><font size=+1>John Bowers</font>
|
|
|
|
<p><hr />
|
|
<!-- LINKS -->
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Main Wolfhöhle <a href="../../plateau/145.htm">Guidebook page</a></li>
|
|
<li>Cambridge Underground 1984,
|
|
<a href="../../../jnl/1984/index.htm">Table of Contents</a></li>
|
|
<li>1983 Expedition info:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li>
|
|
<li>Main Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1984:
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>Exploration and Survey of <a href="exp142.htm">1623/142</a>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="exp142.htm#possext">Possible extensions</a>
|
|
to the 41-142-115 System</li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="143144.htm">143 and 144</a> Guidebook descriptions</li>
|
|
<li><a href="41svy.htm">142/41 Survey</a> - the truth</li>
|
|
<li><a href="list.htm">Summary of Caves 1983</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="bcracc.htm">BCRA Caves & Caving Report</a></li>
|
|
</ul></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1983">Index</a> to all publications</li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|